Team 1 is near the top of the league and in win-now mode. Team 2 is at the bottom and playing for the future (and shorthanded due to drafting issues).
Team 1 gives:
|Ryan Braun MIL 1B/OF R |$5|
|Jurickson Profar OAK 1B/2B/SS/3B S |$5|
|Brent Honeywell TBR (AAA) SP R 7IL|$1|
|Jahmai Jones LAA (AA) 2B R|$2|
|Outgoing Loan|$0|
Team 2 gives:
|Jake Odorizzi MIN SP R |$8|
|Paul Dejong STL SS R |$5|
|Outgoing Loan|$0|
There is an outcry (by another top team) on the league message board that Team 1 is taking advantage of Team 2. Thoughts?
Its not something I’d veto (I’ve never vetoed) since everyone has their own valuations.
That said, I feel a $5 DeJong ($8 + arbitration) is a pretty awesome keeper asset. If his breakout persists an $11+arb Ordorizzi will be a nice keeper as well.
Braun/Profar most likely can be reaqcuired for less than their respective $8+ arb costs. The prospects are shiny, but Jones is struggling in a repeat of AA and Honeywell hasn’t pitched since 2017, so neither are guaranteed to actually contribute next year.
Agree with @Leif that it’s a poor return for Team 2, since he’s giving up at least the best asset in the deal to build around for next year. That said, not sure I’d veto
Full disclosure: I’m Team 1. And I’m the commish of the league, so I’m pretty sensitive to everyone having a good time; and to protecting new owners (of which Team 2 is about 1.5 years in).
I picked T2 to make a win-now / prospect exchange type trade as he was at the bottom and in an obvious rebuild situation (although T2’s owner might be either disengaged, busy, or casual). And he had positions I have weaknesses at, of course.
However, I fear I didn’t consider the youth of his pieces as much as their current levels of production and my view of their recent breakout as a possible temporary one (gut feeling on my end, of course).
This input is helpful and I’m feeling like it might be better to allow T2’s owner the option to rethink and back out (the trade was agreed to earlier today- prior to the outcry) if he likes- and I’ll commish cancel.
However, as this option is only available to the commissioner, am I abusing my power?
It’s a dangerous precedent, but I think maintaining league health should be your number one concern. I look at these kinds of flashpoints as teaching moments, since that is why league 1 has remained together this whole time. When one or two owners get really upset about a trade or a rule or some other scenario, we discuss as a league where the misunderstanding came from and figure out how to set expectations with everyone going forward. Otherwise these kinds of things can repeat and really detract from the game experience.
For what its worth, I like what T1 gets for next year as well as ROS. It seems that a trade like this only got to the point of being accepted is because of a lack of trade offers / trade chatter; maybe this can be an opportunity to address that. Did the team with the owner that is unhappy try to pry away those players from the lower team with a lesser offer? Better offer? Not even consider it? Any offer?
Thanks for the discussion. Using some input from above I prompted some good discussion on our league board. And offered the option to T2 to reconsider. In the end he did, and I’ve canceled the trade.
I’d rather, as commish, err on the side of an owner regretting a trade before it goes through (we still have the option of reworking a better deal)- even if the owner was likely swayed by the league discussion of unfairness. As I mentioned T2 is inexperienced, so hopefully it will be a learning experience (even without the harshest of consequences).